


late bloomer

by sadwolf



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Flowers, Laura Hale Lives, Librarian Derek Hale, M/M, Minor Allison Argent/Lydia Martin, Minor Vernon Boyd/Erica Reyes, soulmate-identifying flowers, stereksoulmate, sterekweek2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:55:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27249148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sadwolf/pseuds/sadwolf
Summary: It was on an ordinary day like any other day, on a Wednesday afternoon around three o’clock, when Derek was shelving some books on oceanography in the science section when he suddenly felt a tugging in his chest unlike anything he had ever felt before. There had always been a longing within him but it felt amplified suddenly, as if every emotion he had ever had was placed in a jar and then examined up close, held much too tightly and for far too long, and trapped. He had never felt anything like it and yet at the same time, it was all too familiar.
Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 20
Kudos: 260





	late bloomer

**Author's Note:**

> hello! happy sterek week! this was actually the work i wrote first for this sterek week :) hope you like it!
> 
> the theme for this work is soulmates

Derek had always wanted to meet his soulmate.

He dreamed of the day it would happen, what kind of flower would be his Bloom, what kind of eyes would meet his, ever since he was a kid and his mothers told him how it had happened with them, how the lavender had sprouted out of the floor of the college classroom they had both walked into in great big clumps, and even up the walls, filling the room with the scent of it as soon as their eyes met and igniting a love for lavender that lasted in lavender-scented handsoaps throughout their house to this day. Derek loved the idea even more when he saw it happen to his best friend, when cardinal flowers blossomed all over the field at lunch when Boyd met eyes with the new girl that was in another class and had joined them outside, Erica Reyes. He had never seen so many flowers at once in his life and both of them hardly even noticed, they could only see each other, soft smiles on their faces.

As the years went on Derek saw more and more Blooms, and always felt a beat of his heart when he met eyes with a stranger, wondering if flowers would bloom for him, but it never happened. He never felt that rushing jolt that Erica had described to him, or the warm glow that Boyd said made the flowers a pretty aftereffect, not something he had needed to be certain. 

Derek began to worry, even though incidences of people not having Blooms were extremely rare. There were more reports of Blooms happening twice to a single person than not happening at all, though the theories on why that happened were mixed. Some said that there were actually multiple potential soulmates out there for a person, and if someone met more than one of those soulmates, then the Bloom happened more than once. Others said that there were multiple  _ kinds _ of soulmates for a person, like a romantic soulmate and a platonic soulmate and perhaps even more, Derek wasn’t as familiar with the terms of this theory, and that most people only met one of their soulmate types, but that there were more out there for them, potentially, although not every person had every type of soulmate out there to meet. It was suggested that those uninterested in romance wouldn’t have a romantic soulmate, and that did seem to be the case. 

For Derek, as time went on, and he researched these theories on the internet, he went through stages of being more worried and less worried. Surely, since he wanted a soulmate so badly, he would eventually find one. Blooms occasionally didn’t happen, but the majority of the time when they didn’t happen, it was because the person wasn’t interested in a soulmate. But a part of Derek wondered what happened if, a person who wasn’t interested in a soulmate had a soulmate out there for them...would neither of them get a Bloom? Or did the universe make sure things like that never happened? And if the multiple soulmates theory was true, then wouldn’t he have met at least one of them by now?

In his late twenties, when he had finished college, and was beginning to realize he was past the age most people met their soulmates, he went to a few Bloom Meets, where people who hadn’t had Blooms yet gathered in hopes that their soulmate would be at the meet too. He had seen some spectacular Blooms at such events, but never met his own soulmate. He continued to go to the meets even as he grew older, and though he still wasn’t the oldest person there and saw some of the same people at the meets again and again over the years, always hoping, just like him, he never had a Bloom.

Derek had seen so many flowers and was of the opinion, as unpopular as it was, that the flowers didn’t have much to do with the match. Some people thought that red roses meant the strongest bond, and they were the most popular in the movies, but Derek thought the flowers were just an aftereffect of the moment itself. The meeting was the important part, and the flowers took on the overflow of feelings that the soulmates felt as they met, but the type of flowers were a personal thing and didn’t imply anything about how long the couple would stay together or anything like that. Derek thought all of the flowers were beautiful, in all of the Blooms he had seen.

And because he kept going to Bloom Meets, he had seen a lot. Though it hadn’t worked for him yet, it remained one of the best ways for soulmates who hadn’t met each other and  _ wanted _ to find their soulmate to meet. He wondered if he should be going to meets in other areas, scouting the world, but as time went on his romantic ideals began to waver and though he still went to meets, his passion for it wasn’t as keen. It became more a way to meet up with his friends he had made over the years and if it would happen, it would happen.

There was one redhead who had been going to the meets about as long as he had. Her name was Lydia and she claimed not to care much about the notion of soulmates and was instead interested more in the science of the Blooms. Each time a Bloom occurred at a meet she was studying the flowers intently with a notebook out while most people had their eyes on whatever lucky couple had found each other. 

When Derek was in his early thirties, Lydia met her soulmate at one of the Bloom Meets. Neither of them had completely given up hope but for the most part they were going to meet people for friendships and for something to do on a weekend. They didn’t go to every Meet but about once a month they were there, seeing who had shown up. Lydia went more often than Derek did simply because she very much was interested in the science of it all, had actually done her senior thesis on Bloom flowers and what caused certain types of flowers to appear more often than others, which was why, she had revealed to Derek at some point in their friendship, she had started attending meets in the first place. She hadn’t told him right off because she thought it might be poor taste to use something so personal to so many people as a means of study but she really was also going to potentially meet her soulmate so she didn’t feel too bad about it.

And as time went on, they both went less for finding soulmates and more just because it was something people without soulmates did.

Derek certainly felt a lot less romantic about it over the years. He was happy with his job as a librarian, talking to people perhaps not as often as his family might have wanted for him but often enough and about subjects he enjoyed when he did, almost always about books he was interested in. 

Lydia’s soulmate was a brunette named Allison who was just a couple years younger than Lydia who had moved to the area recently. She had been moving around quite often looking for her soulmate but also moved a lot for her job.

When they walked into the same room, morning glories sprouted first from the walls, then all over the floors. It was the same hole-in-the-wall bar that had been hosting Bloom Meets in their small town since Derek had come back to Beacon Hills after college, and he had seen countless flowers blossom from the wooden floorboards and peeling maroon wallpaper. But he felt a fondness for Lydia’s Bloom, the way she couldn’t quite look away from the woman who had caught her eye to look at the flowers that had taken up so much of her attention in the past. 

Later, she described the feeling as a certain knowing, as if everything had suddenly aligned. Derek was very happy for her, though he wished he could experience such a thing for himself. Lydia seemed to catch a look in his eye and told him that the waiting had made it all the better for her, that the moment had seemed exactly right in all it was meant to be. Derek wasn’t quite so reassured, but he gave a slight smile and nodded all the same.

He kept checking out books to people, met with his friends on occasion and discussed literature. He didn’t attend meets as often and went to a book club meeting every other week that his older sister hosted. Life went on, and sometimes he could almost forget the notion of soulmates altogether. It became less something he sought for himself and something his mothers or one of his sisters would mention that he should want.

There were some meets, of course, where nobody who attended met their soulmate. Those were the worst. The best were when two or three or even four couples got a match. The most he had seen was six. It was like a whole bouquet had sprouted in that tiny bar, and Derek felt humble to have witnessed it. 

From his research, Derek found that the most Blooms that had co-occurred at once had been ten, but that was extremely rare. It had only happened once before on record and that had been over a hundred years ago. Six wasn’t unheard of but it was still something extraordinary to witness, and even if he never did find his soulmate he still had that experience to hold dear to his heart in his life.

Derek was in his forties and quite content with life, going to meets on occasion without really hoping for anything, now one of the older people in attendance but still not the eldest. Sometimes, rarely, he dreamed about traveling across the world to meet his soulmate, but he gave up the notion almost as soon as it came to him. He had a life he was happy with here in Beacon Hills, and it suited him fine. He was content, and even if he didn’t come across a great love or that feeling of deep connection with another person that other people in his life seemed to have with their soulmates, well, maybe it just wasn’t meant for him.

It was on an ordinary day like any other day, on a Wednesday afternoon around three o’clock, when Derek was shelving some books on oceanography in the science section when he suddenly felt a tugging in his chest unlike anything he had ever felt before. There had always been a longing within him but it felt amplified suddenly, as if every emotion he had ever had was placed in a jar and then examined up close, held much too tightly and for far too long, and trapped. He had never felt anything like it and yet at the same time, it was all too familiar. 

He turned toward the entrance of the library where there was a man at least ten years younger than him, he was perhaps thirty years old, or in his late twenties, sporting a beanie and a graphic t-shirt, the message of which was obscured by a layer of flannel. He wore converse and he was looking right back at Derek with bright brown eyes and parted pink lips and an entire constellation of moles and anything else Derek didn’t know because there were daisies between him and the man, and on the bookshelf and on the ceiling lights and sprouting from the floor and under his shoe and everywhere in the library and he had never seen so many daisies at once even though he had seen so many Blooms he had never seen any as perfect and beautiful as this one.

For several moments, they just stared at each other. Derek hardly realized what was happening, just that every moment of his life seemed to have lead up to this one, this perfect crescendo of daisies and brown eyes and a tattered mustard beanie. The flowers were still there when he realized the face across from his had relaxed into a broad grin, and was steadily approaching, and, oh wow, he was going to have a conversation with his soulmate. This was happening!

“Hey,” the man said, eyes darting all across Derek, taking him in inch by inch in the same way Derek was sure he was doing himself, and Derek couldn’t remember what lackluster outfit he had drenched himself in that day but he was sure it wasn’t anything extraordinary, just his usual glasses and sweatervest. He suddenly realized there was a bit of tattoo peaking out of his soulmate’s collarbone and realized this was something they had in common, though the one on his back was hidden and he had no idea how to bring it up in conversation and had he always been this awkward?

“Hey,” Derek replied, feeling himself grin in response in a way he hoped was friendly and fiddling with the book in his hands. He almost always had a book in his hands at the library and he was currently shelving...he looked down, right, it was oceanography.

A few moments passed, and Derek wasn’t sure but he didn’t think, in all the Bloom Meets he had attended, he had ever seen a Bloom with so much awkwardness, but perhaps he was projecting his own insecurities onto the matter. But damn, this man was so perfect, and Derek wanted to be but half as perfect himself. He had a grin that could light up a night sky, and chase the stars away. And those eyes...they had only just met, but Derek knew he was perfect.

“I’m Stiles,” the man said, and Derek nodded before he realized he should probably respond.

“Derek,” he said, and Stiles was still smiling that bright smile of his, lighting up the whole building.

“Looks like we’re soulmates.”

“So it would seem.”

“Never thought my Bloom would be daisies, to be honest.”

“I’ve always thought the Bloom had less to do with the type of flower and more to do with the meeting itself,” Derek said, looking away to catch his attention on a stray daisy that still remained. The flowers from a Bloom could last in a room or area for at least an hour or sometimes longer. “Every type of flower is just as important as another.”

Stiles let out a small chuckle and it was the most beautiful sound Derek had heard. “That’s one way to look at it,” he said, and he was still looking at Derek when Derek looked back at him. It made Derek feel very exposed, but in a way that he somehow enjoyed, which was a strange feeling.

They enjoyed a silence together for a few moments, examining the daisies together. Derek wished he could keep one in remembrance but Bloom flowers always faded away, vanishing into nothingness as swiftly as they appeared shortly after the meeting of a soulmate pair. 

“So, Derek,” Stiles said, “You’re a librarian? In Beacon Hills?”

Derek nodded, “Can’t imagine doing anything else.”

Stiles let out a hum. “I never really stay in one place long myself. I’ve always been…” He let out a huff of a laugh, “Looking for something, I guess? Maybe I found it. Though I’ve never really thought I’d find my soulmate, honestly,” he shrugged.

“I was thinking I didn’t have one either,” Derek admitted.

“I never thought I was the type,” Stiles continued, “But I guess the universe thought differently, and wow, when I saw you, you’re just…” Derek looked back to see Stiles sweeping his eyes over Derek, never quite landing in one place, as if taking in all of him at once, before landing back on his eyes, “...perfect.”

“I always...hoped. Since I was young,” Derek said, feeling flayed open, but if he couldn’t be honest with his soulmate, then who could he be honest with? He had heard more drastic declarations at other Blooms he had seen, “But as time went on I thought, maybe I’ll never have a Bloom, and I got more okay with it. But that feeling, it’s like...really everything I’ve been waiting for,” Derek could feel his eyes watering and felt his cheeks heating, and he was staring at his boots and noticed one of his shoelaces was almost undone, and he was going to continue but Stiles was saying something again.

“Derek,” and Derek looked up again, overwhelmed with the sincerity in those eyes, “Can I give you a hug?” His arms were already outstretched.

Derek let out a sound that was a breath and maybe a sob and nodded and then he was embraced in a strong grip, his face burrowed in the junction of Stiles’s neck and shoulder, as they were of a height, smelling his citrus scent off his soft hoodie. He stood for a few moments before he clung tightly, repeating in his mind  _ this is my soulmate, I’ve had my Bloom, my soulmate, my soulmate, he’s perfect, my soulmate.  _

He was glad to have met him in the quiet of the library on a soft afternoon, through happenstance rather than on a crowded Bloom Meet heavy with expectation. Though he would have been glad to meet Stiles at any time, there was hardly anyone else in the library at the moment and he would have hated having so many eyes upon them. 

When they pulled away, Derek slid his hands down Stiles’s arms and clutched his hands, then lead him to a nearby table. He had totally forgotten about shelving the oceanography books but he decided that could wait. He had met his soulmate and he wanted to know everything about him.

Stiles seemed just as interested, as that grin had not left his face the entire time and Derek was glad for it. 

Stiles was beautiful and had the greatest sense of humor and he smelled so good. He had long fingers that danced when he talked and a laugh that lit up the stars. Derek could not imagine a more perfect soulmate, that filled his contemplative silences and brought out his hard to reach smiles so much that his cheeks hurt. They were both a bit awkward but their awkwardness fit together. 

They had their whole lives to find out all the ways they fit together, and Derek couldn’t wait to explore them all. Derek had waited for that perfect moment for so long, but the moments after his Bloom were even more amazing than he could have imagined.

His favorite moments were the quiet times where he and Stiles just enjoyed the silences together. Watching the stars, filling the space of a room with each other, watching television or reading together before falling asleep. Those tiny slices of peace.

It was everything he had done without a soulmate, but with Stiles, he felt companionship as he did them. And then there were the moments that were louder. The laughing, and the yelling, usually over something so petty he couldn’t remember for long. And then the kissing to make up, always so heated and passionate, sometimes a bursting of emotions reminiscent of their Bloom, sometimes a soft pressing of lips that warmed between passing moments, sometimes something more or less awkward but still nice. But always, he loved Stiles so much, and every small moment with him reminded Derek of that.

On their Bloom Day, Stiles was sure to bring Derek a huge bouquet of daisies, and Derek gave Stiles a new book to remind him of walking into the library because he insisted that a bouquet was too cliché although he didn’t mind getting Derek one every year. They both loved to read and Derek loved to think of their Bloom even if Stiles still sometimes said he couldn’t believe he had waited so long for a flower as common as daisies. 

Derek insisted daisies were his favorite flower.


End file.
